Remembrance
by HextheDaydreamer
Summary: Naruto visits his parents graves on Remembrance Day. Sasuke does have a heart afterall.


Author's Notes: A Remembrance Day fic because, given if NARUTO was set in modern times or in "our world", I wonder how Naruto would celebrate it seeing as his parents saved Konoha.

Disclaimer: NARUTO does not belong to me in the slightest.

**Edit**: Fixed stuff.

* * *

><p>Naruto didn't like this day. He had never been terribly fond of it. Everyone would talk to him, tell and congratulate him on his parent's valiant contributions to peace but he didn't care.<p>

Well...Maybe he cared _a little_ bit it's just that...he was orphaned. It was like someone came up to him and said,

"Thanks for being an orphan; your parents would be proud. Oh, that's right, you don't _have_ any."

He imagined Karin saying something stupid like that but he didn't care. Karin was a bitch who hadn't done anything to deserve her "lavish" lifestyle. Sakura-chan's father was ANBU and her mother a nurse at the hospital. Kiba's parents trained ninja jobs and everyone knew the almost legendary formation of Ino-Shika-Cho. Everyone in his grade had a connection to today but his was so damn profound.

No more Nine-Tailed Fox Demon to destroy the village.

_Stupid fox_, he thought bitterly_, stupid, idiot fox._

Perhaps he'd run into Kakashi-Sensei on his way to see his parents. Kakashi was in a war, he'd understand the loss. So, with a grunt and a groan, Naruto Uzumaki threw the covers off his bed and put his feet on the floor. His room was a mess, Sai would most likely remind him to clean it again today, he wrestled clothes out of a jammed drawer and put them on slowly, deliberately. A pair of black jeans, a black T-shirt with his clan's symbol proudly spun on the back, Granny's necklace and white socks but no one would see them. He paused in the doorway to fix his hair which had grown longer; he looked a lot more like his father now, and pulled a dark blue sweater over his head and ran out the door with the hood low over his face.

The Village made a huge deal over this day and everyone would be in dark clothing, greeting neighbours and recalling the achievements of their dead relatives. He must've passed Sakura's house by now; he smelled the cherry blossoms in the window. All that was left was to get passed Sasuke-teme's house without one of those "you're the scum of the earth" looks. He slowed his pace as he passed Hinata and Kiba and he turned a corner. Sasuke was adamant upon remaining in the Uchiha District after the Massacre and down that empty street is where he'd meet the Village Cemetery.

Naruto hated coming down this way, he wasn't a superstitious person by any means (accept that time at the festival with Sakura where he saw the Third Hokage), but he always felt like he was being watched. Shadows moved inside the houses, he knew well enough that Sasuke had nightmares about this place and you could hear him screaming sometimes in his sleep. Naruto started walking real slow as he passed Sasuke's front door, it was open ever so slightly and Naruto knew the bastard was standing behind the door watching him pass.

He kept his head down and walked faster, hoping Sasuke didn't recognize him, then made a mad dash for the gates. Kakashi was standing near the stone with the names of those who died while in the Ninja Wars, the silver-haired adult would stand there all day and all night until someone came to get him. Rain, sleet, snow, or hail, Kakashi would focus his gaze on two names, the names Naruto didn't know. The blond headed towards the back of the cemetery and sighed, flowers already were piled around the gravestones. He kneeled in front of them and kissed the tops of the stones, laying down a white lily on each before he sat on his bum and crossed his legs.

"Hi Mom. Hi Dad." He said quietly, the fox within him folded its arms over its ears and groaned. "Happy Remembrance Day."

The wind howled in the branches of the white willows and cracked leaves scratched at his face. Naruto breathed in the scent of autumn with the cold hint of approaching winter with a long sigh.

"A lot of people have visited you, kinda makes me feel bad about not coming here a lot but I know you understand." He wrapped a hand around the crystal strung around his neck.

"It's not getting any easier. I miss you guys like crazy, people keep saying how proud I should be and I am...it's just that...Well, you know." Another cluster of leaves came at him and he chuckled.

"I know Mom and I'm trying but no one's listening to me. It's all about your sacrifices and not about how it gets to me. It's frustrating but I'll get better at it, talking to people about it, I mean." He sighed and bowed his head.

"I haven't asked Sakura out yet-and before you start ripping into me- Hinata likes me too. I don't know what to do about that." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. A red leave spun in the air above his head before the wind flattened it against Naruto's chest.

"Follow my heart? That's kind of difficult right now." He sighed again and heard footsteps come towards him, he didn't bother looking up. Someone kneeled beside him, prayed and then walked off. Naruto resumed his conversation, probably sat there for a good five hours, watching people leave gifts at the graves. It was six when the sun began to set and when wind became cold. He wanted to stay out longer but that damned roommate would only come back for him, Sai could be annoying that way.

Naruto stood up and brushed crushed leaves from his pants but kept the red one, the one that looked like his mother's hair. He walked past Kakashi and the two of them stared at each other and nodded, Naruto offered a smile and he was sure that Kakashi smiled from behind the mask. That happiness, however brief, disappeared as he walked back into Uchiha District; Sasuke was sitting on his front step examining a photo. Naruto was doing pretty good of job being unnoticed until the wind blew his hood off. Their eyes met. Cerulean to onyx.

"You look like your dad," he said mildly, blowing his bangs out of his face.

"You look like your mom, she's was really pretty."

"Really now? Where do you get off calling me "pretty"?"

"I don't know, it just came out." Naruto pulled the sweater up to his face and breathed out, warm air tickling his face. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and sat up straighter, folding the picture and putting it into his pocket.

"Well...I guess you're handsome, like your father."

"Thanks Sasuke."

"Whatever loser."

They smiled at each other and Naruto started walking away but a hand caught his shoulder and pulled him back. Sasuke pinned a poppy to his sweater and Naruto rubbed a finger across the petal. The teens looked at each other and fist bumped, still smiing before the Uchiha disappeared back into his house and shut the door. Naruto smirked and kept walking but paused to look up at the sky.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you, Dad?"

The wind caressed his cheek and Naruto grinned.

"Thought so."


End file.
